First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) Receives $46.40 Average Price Target from Analysts

First Merchants Corporation (NASDAQ:FRME) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the five brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.40.

FRME has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded First Merchants from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 24th. Raymond James Financial cut their target price on shares of First Merchants from $50.00 to $46.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 2nd. Piper Sandler cut their price target on First Merchants from $55.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their target price on First Merchants from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 25th.

Institutional Trading of First Merchants

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants during the first quarter worth approximately $24,523,000. Capital International Investors bought a new stake in shares of First Merchants in the 4th quarter worth $23,739,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth about $19,014,000. MetLife Investment Management LLC raised its position in First Merchants by 842.5% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 334,593 shares of the bank’s stock worth $13,531,000 after acquiring an additional 299,092 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ceredex Value Advisors LLC bought a new stake in First Merchants in the fourth quarter worth about $9,107,000. Institutional investors own 73.92% of the company’s stock.

First Merchants Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ FRME opened at $40.43 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.90 and a quick ratio of 0.90. First Merchants has a 12 month low of $33.13 and a 12 month high of $46.13. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $38.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $39.36. The company has a market capitalization of $2.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.36 and a beta of 1.02.

First Merchants (NASDAQ:FRME) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The bank reported $0.94 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $160.32 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $171.23 million. First Merchants had a net margin of 19.63% and a return on equity of 9.28%. As a group, research analysts predict that First Merchants will post 3.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

First Merchants Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 20th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 6th were paid a dividend of $0.36 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 6th. This represents a $1.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. This is an increase from First Merchants’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.35. First Merchants’s payout ratio is presently 40.45%.

First Merchants Company Profile

First Merchants Corporation operates as the financial holding company for First Merchants Bank that provides community banking services. The company offers a range of financial services, including time, savings, and demand deposits; and consumer, commercial, agri-business, public finance, and real estate mortgage loans.